Deutsche Post eyes record Christmas parcel business in Germany

BOCHUM, Germany, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Deutsche Post DHL is expecting another record year for parcel deliveries in Germany during the crucial Christmas period, a company executive said on Monday.

Like other postal and logistics companies, Deutsche Post DHL is benefiting from the rise in online shopping, delivering packages ordered from websites such as Amazon.com and Zalando.

The company is expecting to deliver around 8.7 million parcels a day this Christmas, management board member Juergen Gerdes said at an event in Bochum, Germany.

In the run-up to Christmas last year, Deutsche Post delivered over 8 million parcels per day in Germany. On a normal day, it delivers around 4.3 million parcels.

Deutsche Post executives were in Bochum to break ground on a new parcel centre, which will open in 2019 and be able to process up to 50,000 shipments per hour by autumn 2019. (Reporting by Matthias Inverardi; Writing by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Susan Fenton)